ID :
203058
Tue, 08/23/2011 - 16:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/203058
The shortlink copeid
AP to open Pyongyang bureau early next year: CEO
NEW YORK, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- The president of the Associated Press said Monday that the U.S. news agency plans to open a Pyongyang bureau early next year, with a text correspondent and a photojournalist to be stationed there.
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Tom Curley, president and CEO of the AP, said some of his staff are visiting the capital of North Korea to work out the specifics of the agreement to expand its operations in the reclusive communist nation. Currently, the AP provides a limited video footage service on the North through the Pyongyang office of its video news arm APTN.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency later confirmed in a report that an AP delegation led by its Vice President John Daniszewski arrived in the country by air.
"We think this is a historic and watershed moment," Curley said in the interview at the U.N. headquarters. "We consider it important and significant."
He was attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony of an international press photo exhibition co-hosted by the U.N. and Yonhap.
Asked about the timing of the launch of the new bureau, he said it would be "early next year," although details will be hammered out through conversations with North Korean officials this week.
"We expect to have a text correspondent and a photographer, and we expect to have others as well," he said.
He attached special meaning to the press photo exhibition, saying it's bringing "prestige and attention" to the work of photojournalists.
"It is so powerful and illuminating in terms of the world's issues," he said.
Curley said it is even more meaningful that Yonhap is organizing such a rare event while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, formerly a South Korean foreign minister, is in office.
"The legacy will go on after the secretary-general finishes his term," he said. "So I think it's very special and has meaning."
He also expressed hope for closer partnerships with Yonhap, South Korea's key news service, especially in the field of new media technologies.
The AP is now focusing more on new technologies. It launched a news-licensing group earlier this month and plans to announce other new technologies for mobile news next week, he said.
"We think we can work with Yonhap on these technology pieces," he said. "So, we are hoping to have conversations about these things in the next couple of months."
Curley said Yonhap's move to open a 24-hour cable news channel later this year is "strategically necessary."
"You absolutely have to do it," he said, adding clients want a range of services, including text, photo, audio and television news. "That's the era."
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Tom Curley, president and CEO of the AP, said some of his staff are visiting the capital of North Korea to work out the specifics of the agreement to expand its operations in the reclusive communist nation. Currently, the AP provides a limited video footage service on the North through the Pyongyang office of its video news arm APTN.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency later confirmed in a report that an AP delegation led by its Vice President John Daniszewski arrived in the country by air.
"We think this is a historic and watershed moment," Curley said in the interview at the U.N. headquarters. "We consider it important and significant."
He was attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony of an international press photo exhibition co-hosted by the U.N. and Yonhap.
Asked about the timing of the launch of the new bureau, he said it would be "early next year," although details will be hammered out through conversations with North Korean officials this week.
"We expect to have a text correspondent and a photographer, and we expect to have others as well," he said.
He attached special meaning to the press photo exhibition, saying it's bringing "prestige and attention" to the work of photojournalists.
"It is so powerful and illuminating in terms of the world's issues," he said.
Curley said it is even more meaningful that Yonhap is organizing such a rare event while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, formerly a South Korean foreign minister, is in office.
"The legacy will go on after the secretary-general finishes his term," he said. "So I think it's very special and has meaning."
He also expressed hope for closer partnerships with Yonhap, South Korea's key news service, especially in the field of new media technologies.
The AP is now focusing more on new technologies. It launched a news-licensing group earlier this month and plans to announce other new technologies for mobile news next week, he said.
"We think we can work with Yonhap on these technology pieces," he said. "So, we are hoping to have conversations about these things in the next couple of months."
Curley said Yonhap's move to open a 24-hour cable news channel later this year is "strategically necessary."
"You absolutely have to do it," he said, adding clients want a range of services, including text, photo, audio and television news. "That's the era."
